Starting Over
by Venkoa
Summary: Link Gaiden is devastated after he watches his own family die right in front of him. He and his surviving sister Aryll have finally found willing adoptive parents, and just in time for school. Link is devoted to finding the culprit of the fire at his former home, and in his new house, he seems to slowly be falling for Zelda Harkinian, daughter of his adopters. Awkward. Zelink/AU/T
1. Housewarming

**A/N:** Hey everyone, this is my first story on this account! I've dabbled in fanfiction before, and even started some stories on an old account three or so years ago, but I'd be way to embarrassed to have to look at that so I'm starting fresh. This first chapter may seem pretty rushed, but I wanted all these initial introduction scenes to go by rather fast. Anyway, I can always come back an edit this once I realize how plain awful this chapter was. Have fun!

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Zelda, don't kill me.

* * *

Restarting Life

We pulled in to the driveway. Already I was taken aback, the house was even more illustrious than I could've described. Tall hedges secluded the property from the rest of the upscale neighborhood, which only seemed to increase the grandeur of the whole place. The building itself, while only two stories, appeared as if it towered above me with its stucco walls, and the fountain out front only added to the beauty. I felt as if the house was beckoning me, which sounds really stupid, but it was true.

"Are we there yet? Is this it!?" My little sister Aryll was sitting up as high as she could in the backseat to try and see out the car window, filled with excitement.

"Yeah Aryll, we finally made it…" I almost felt guilty driving this practically ancient car around here, but then I remembered why we were here in the first place. No matter how rich they were, these people had to be some of the kindest human beings on the planet. After losing almost all of my immediate family with the exception my younger sister, it felt amazing to be taken in by a new family, the wealth they held was insignificant to me.

"Ready Aryll?" I strained my head around from the drivers seat. She had a genuine ear-to-ear grin plastered on her face.

"You bet! C'mon, let's go, let's GO!" The smile on her face was the warmest one I'd seen in months since the tragedy. We eagerly hopped out of the car, tidied up our clothes, and hand in hand walked up to the front door. I knocked three times, not knowing exactly what to expect. We had to travel for a good 15 hours to get here, so this was the first time meeting with our new adoptive parents. We had sent letters, but the moment of suspense right before the door opened was painful. It was answered almost immediately by a man with greying hair and a hearty smile.

"Hey!" he uttered in a deep, welcoming voice, "you must be Link! We've been waiting for what seems an eternity!" I couldn't help but contain a smile. This was my new father. "It's amazing to finally meet you!" I reached out to shake hands, but he embraced me in a deep hug instead. He then focused his attention approximately one foot to the left and two feet below my height. "And you, you must be Aryll, is that not correct?" He picked my little sister up to her delight and ruffled her blonde pigtails. She was out of breath from laughing once he set her back down. "Well, what are we waiting for, come on in you two!"

He walked us down a short hallway that led straight into an enormous kitchen; the island in the center was what, fifteen feet long? The cabinets, counters, everything seemed to be whispering money.

"Telma, come out here, Link and Aryll have arrived!" He bellowed. Emerging from the corridor, and middle-aged woman who looked as if that smile never left her face approached the two of us. "Hello Link and Aryll, I'm Telma Harkinian, and this is Daphnes." She motioned to her husband. Daphnes stuck his hand out for us to give it a quick shake, symbolic if anything. We'd already talked many times through letters. Quickly I surveyed the room. It had everything you'd ever want in a kitchen, times fifty. I looked down and noticed Aryll took an immediate liking to Telma, and she was swooped off the ground into my adoptive mothers hands, giggling uncontrollably.

Daphnes motioned for the two of us to sit at the island. "Would you like anything to eat or drink?" I wasn't very hungry, but Aryll asked for some apple juice. "Coming right up!" Daphnes poured Aryll's drink, and Telma said she would take all of our luggage in. I tried to help, but she just told me to sit down and relax. I had, after all, been driving for more than half of a day. When she finished with the luggage she took a seat and the four of us talked nonchalantly for a half hour or so, and I'm grateful that they refrained from mentioning my parents.

Daphnes then looked at the clock and spoke up. "Do you two want a quick tour of the house?" I of course agreed, I needed to be able to work my way around this place.

He took us first down the long corridor, pointing at the various doors and mentioning where they lead. Some he seemed to purposely not mention, which makes me wonder what they do with all this space, especially since it's just the two of them. The corridor was almost ominous, but I wouldn't walk down this way much anyhow. When we reached the end, we pivoted and went right back to the kitchen, where there was a large and very flamboyant looking set of stairs that I wasn't exactly too keen and walking on for fear of falling somehow- something I did a lot, but we proceeded upwards safely. Almost immediately to the right of the landing was my room.

"I hope you like it, we worked very hard on it!" Telma proudly stated. I honestly wasn't expecting that much, but damn was I wrong. Upon opening the door, I was greeted immediately with high ceilings, and blue walls decorated with golden imagery of the Hero of Legend. Obviously they had paid attention to the letters Aryll and I sent them. Across the room was a king size bed, which was paralleled by a huge TV set on the opposite wall. I was speechless. Utterly speechless. How was I supposed to thank them?

"Y-you didn't ha-" I attempted to speak but was quickly cut off by Telma. Daphnes' wholesome chuckle assured me as well.

"Of course we had to Link, you'd been through so much and you deserve nothing less." Telma calmingly said. I was still simply in awe of the Harkinian's thoughtfulness. Whether I deserved this or not, my new parents obviously cared for me. Telma then turned to my sister. "But I bet Aryll's room will be even better, are you ready Aryll?" My little sister squirmed in excitement, still in Telma's arms. "You can make yourself at home in here Link, if there's anything you need, just feel free to call one of us up here, but I'll leave you be for now."

Still stunned, Daphnes just gently closed the door on me, leaving myself to me and my thoughts alone. I couldn't comprehend anything at the moment, so I just sprawled out on my bed. A bit too cushioned for me, but I really shouldn't be complaining. Peacefully I dozed off with happy thoughts in my head.

* * *

The screams would already be painful, but they become even more painful when you know they're the screams of your mother. Your father. Your Uncle. Your Grandma. Your dog for goddesses' sake. The howl was chilling. I would never forget it. Aryll. Aryll! If I could save one person it had to be her. Her door was searing hot, but I risked it. Opening the door, the entire room was almost entirely engulfed in flames. But there she was. Right below me. She appeared to be unconscious, but also unscathed. I swooped her up, cradled her in my arms, and jumped out my own window. The screams were still ongoing. As I watched the final sections of my house go up in flames, I saw what I thought was the shape of my father, no part of him saved from the flames- but I couldn't tell for sure, for the tears forming in my eyes distorted his vision. The sirens drew closer, and I completely surrendered my emotions, convulsively twitching on the ground while sobbing my eyes out.

* * *

I woke up panting. It was a dream. Of course it was a dream. Oh my god. It was a dream. Again. That dream. That dream…. Every night since the incident I've had that dream. You think I would've gotten used to it, but every time it still gives my cardiovascular system a workout.

Knowing there was no way I could fall asleep for at least a couple hours. I decided to familiarize myself with my surroundings. In the closet they was an abundance of plain clothes for school wear, which suited me fine. Below the TV there was a Wii U, always a great addition. Telma obviously intended for me to put things up here as time went on, which I'm grateful for. Some more basic things scattered about the room, a nice carpet, and some more storage. But the only thing that surprised me was right above the closet. A ledge I hadn't noticed before. And…was that a door? Appeared to be. I hoisted myself up and sure enough, ten feet above the floor there was a mysterious small door. Might as well open it, seems interesting enough….

I had to get on all fours and crawl to move around in there, and it was black as tar so I really couldn't tell where the hell I wa-

OOF. Well, at least I landed on a bed. Wait. What? "Oh my GODDESESS!" I screamed.

"Eeeeeeeek!" This thing on the bed shrieked. I didn't really get a chance to tell exactly what the thing was because my face was repeatedly rammed into the mattress by a pillow.

"Stwwwp! Stwwwp! I swwrnndrr!" My tried to say, but obviously it _was pretty challenging to speak…._

"Oh my fu-" I looked up at the speaker, who I also assumed was the pillow-mugger. Was it dark? Yes. Was my vision the greatest in the dark? No. But was she gorgeous? Yes. Her slim, innocent, yet gorgeous eyes complimented her flowing blonde hair gorgeous. But was her hair messy? I couldn't really tell, but it looked stunning from here and- what am I doing? Already I could feel my face going beet red…pull it together Link, you idiot….

"Holy shit! I'm so sorry, uhm…uh…err…" She managed to choke out. Awkward. Did Daphnes or Telma ever say they had a daughter? If so, I don't remember it…. Fuck. This girl is staring at me and she's possibly the most beautiful person I've ever seen, in the dark at least, and what am I supposed to say? I mean I have to say something, she's gonna think I'm some random pervert. So I speak up….

"Uh…who are you?" Oh. Great. You intrude this girl's bedroom, fall on her from ten feet above, probably cause her some physical pain, and that's what you choose to say. I braced myself for a slap to the cheek. Sometimes I'm just really depressed in my existence.

Miraculously she responded without a trace of anger. "Oh…uh…I'm Zelda…Harkinian, obviously. Zelda Harkinian." So there _was_ a daughter? And no one ever told me? _And_ she didn't slap me? Sweet. She looked up at me like she was trying not to laugh, but her smile broke through. "And you're Link Gaiden I take it?" Oh, so she knows me. I felt my face heating up fast. Dear Hylia….

"Y-yeah, that's me." Why am I so awful at social interaction, Farore? I don't know, but luckily, her smile just widened, which made me feel absolutely spectacular for no reason.

"And did you by any chance just fall on my bed from up there?" She motioned to the passageway ten or so feet above.

"Well yeah, I guess I kinda did." Instantly Zelda just burst out laughing, which in turn slowly built up my emotion until I was giggling along with her like a six year old. For five minutes I was just sitting on the bed of a girl I just met laughing my ass off over I don't know what really. But if I did know something it was that I was tired, and although I planned to go back through the passageway I must of fallen asleep before I got the chance.

* * *

"Well, hello sleepyhead!" Telma greeted me as I walked down the lavish staircase. "Yeah, hello sleepyhead!" Aryll was in Telma's arms, which I guess I should probably get used to.

"So I see you met Zelda?" Daphnes looked up from the newspaper.

"Yeah…" I responded, recalling last night's events and cringing. I noticed that she was sitting at the island as well. That sparked a few questions. How late did I sleep till? Is she that much more pretty in daylight? And why didn't my new parents tell me about her?

"It's alright Link, we intended it to be a surprise." Telma spoke up. I just smiled back and said it was ok, still embarrassed. I'd been living with these people for less than twenty-four hours and I almost feel as if these are my biological parents. Awesome. However, the key word there is 'almost.' I will find the culprit of my burning house, and now that we've settled down I can finally start. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Zelda, conversing happily with Aryll. And Zelda is supposed to be my sister, by the rules of adoption. Awkward, to say the least.

* * *

Alright, so that was that. The next chapter is probably going to be pretty short, but the 3 will be a bit longer than it and should follow almost right after. Feel free to leave a review, I've never actually attempted first person before so it's all pretty new to me. Eventually I'll be better with it :P


	2. Acquainting

**A/N:** First of all, thanks so much for the reviews everyone, I get a lot of motivation from you all! Secondly, I'd like to apologize about this chapter before hand. It's pretty much plotless, just some small bits of fluff here and there. I felt like it was too long for a useless chapter with the carnival part included, so I'll put that in the next chapter which actually advances the story. I hope I didn't waste too much of your time here :P

* * *

The Next Day…

"What if you and Zelda went and explored town a bit, does that sound alright Link?" Daphnes, standing a few feet behind me, asked.

"Sure, yeah, that sounds great." I respond blankly, not thinking much of it. My eyes are glued to the TV as I'm trying to mull my life over. No easy task.

"Alright then, let me just get her…" He wanders upstairs. Did Daphnes just say Zelda and I would be exploring Castle Town? I suppose it sounds interesting enough; I'd like to get know the city and Zelda a bit better. Especially Zelda. Castle Town is the capital of Hyrule, and it's monstrous, so we should have a good time. Lo and behold, minutes later she's standing in behind me, ready to go.

"Link…?"

"Oh, shoot, sorry, let me get ready." Goddesses I'm tired. Last night I stayed in my own bed for a change, but I had hundreds of thoughts that would just not leave my mind.

"No problem." She responds. I run up stairs and slip on some suitable clothes, just some slim jeans and a baggy green shirt depicting the Triforce. The legends were always very interesting to me. I begin to step out, but I remember my sweater. Apparently it's rather chilly.

When I arrive downstairs Zelda is nowhere to be seen, presumably in the bathroom. I awkwardly sit on the bottom step of the staircase waiting for her.

"Ok Link, you all ready?" She emerges from the bathroom down the hall. And holy crap, her eyes. Yeah, those eyes of hers could definitely win some awards… if there was such a thing as 'eye awards.' They were just so...fulfilling. Blue like mine, but icier, more fierce. I'm weird.

"Yeah, let's go." I notice Aryll watching me leave, and blow her a kiss. She smiles and blows one back.

"Mmk, this should be fun." Once we're out the door Zelda stops for a minute, checks the keys she brought out, and then continues to the garage area. It's massive. Inside are four cars, one looks incredibly fast, one is an average SUV, one is a nice looking convertible, and one car is a heaping pile of rust. Oh yeah, that's mine.

"We're taking this one." Zelda says and motions to the convertible; I'm glad I put on that sweater. I hop in the passenger seat and take note of the stick shift. Don't make me feel bad about myself...

We back out of the driveway and then we're on the road.

"The drive should be about a half hour." She said in a matter of fact way.

"So what exactly are we going to be doing today?" I inquire.

"Nothing much I guess, maybe some shopping, and there _is_ Hylia's carnival later tonight if we're up for it. My dad told me to scram for the whole day so we have time. Dinner's up you."

"Carnival, huh? That sounds interesting." I've never been to a carnival in my life.

"Yeah," she smiles, and an almost sad, melancholy type of look garners her face for a split second but then it's gone. "Every year the Hylia carnival comes to castle town, and it's said that the carnival first started thousands of years ago. The name comes from the goddess Hylia, obviously."

Thousands of years huh? Rather hard to believe, but I'll go with it.

"Yeah, thousands of years is a long time, whether you think that's true or not it's still tons of fun." She reads my mind.

I'm nodding along, trying to picture a carnival in my mind. The last time one came to Kakariko was when I was two years old, or somewhere around there.

"Hey Link?" Zelda turns her attention towards me for a split second.

"Yeah?"

"Seeing as we just met, I think we should get to know each other a bit better."

"Ok…" I tentatively say. 'Getting to know each other' can be taken in about a trillion different ways.

"Alright, awesome! What's…

your…

favorite…..

color!?" She giggles enthusiastically.

That's an easy one for me. "Green!" I practically shout the answer over the flapping wind. I hear her mutter 'thought so' under her breath victoriously. It is true, I wear lots of green. Like today.

"Yours?" I flip the question at her.

She ponders this for a second. "Ugh, well I always did like pink, but right now I'm in more a blue phase, you know?" I enjoyed blue a lot as well, so I just nodded my head as if favorite colors were a serious topic.

"Alright cool, my turn to come up with a question." I think about it for only a second.

"So, what are some of your hobbies?" Seems fair enough to me.

"Oh, glad you asked! I really like painting actually, my parents want me to go to an arts college."

"Maybe you could teach me sometimes, it sounds like fun." My artistic ability is extremely lacking.

Zelda nods her head happily. "I'm also not too shabby at videogames…" She adds. Wait, what?

"Not too shabby at videogames, eh?" She couldn't last a second against me, I almost guarantee it. "Alright then, I challenge you to a tournament of-

"Super Smash Bros." She immediately cuts in.

"That's what I had in mind too, actually. But you don't know what you're up against." She didn't really. Last year that was practically the only videogame I played, and I'm not even ashamed.

The talk went on like this for five or ten more minutes, we discussed favorite bands and such- we both loved the Indigo-Go's. The topic of cereal came up too. I liked Kokiri Krunchies whereas Zelda preferred boring old granola cereal. Eh, if you really hate breakfast that much….Then the topic of school came up.

"Oh, Link, it almost slipped my mind, school begins tomorrow!" Zelda looked over at me.

"Slipped your mind huh? Your parents haven't been talking to you about it non-stop for the past twenty-four hours?"

"Oh, shut up. I'm just starting a conversation…." Honestly, school was not really my thing. Despite always passing, sometimes even taking honors classes, it was just plain boring. Who knows though, maybe it'll be different in the big city. Hyrule Academy of Castle Town was one of the most acclaimed public schools. Zelda stops talking, probably noticing me mumbling to myself.

"Link." She snaps her right hand in front of my face.

"Huh, yeah what did you say?"

"Friends. Do you want to hang out with my friends at school tomorrow?"

"Oh." Friends were a touchy subject, believe it or not. In the seventh grade my best friends died while his drunkard parents were fighting. After that I never really became extremely close with anyone at school again. My life is the perfect crappy soap opera story, isn't it? "Well yeah, of course I would."

"Awesome, just making sure, we're pretty intimidating and I wouldn't want to scare you or anything." I offer my fist lightly to her shoulder.

"So what are the teachers like there?" I inquire out of curiosity, and maybe to change the subject.

"Oh, most of the teachers are just fine. Although there is Mr. Dampé, who's kind of weird to be honest. He's the biology teacher, ever since the old one left he's been filling in. It's been a few years now and I don't even know if his paycheck is the same as the other teachers. Poor guy. He doesn't mean any harm, but he just kind of creeps me out personally." She continues. "My favorite teacher is probably Rusl." If you don't put Mr. in front of your surname as a teacher, you're automatically already pretty cool in my own opinion. "He teaches ancient history, if I were you I'd sign up for it."

"Alright, sounds good then." I say as the car slows down.

"And oh yeah, Link?"

"Mhm?"

"A couple my friends are going to be here, so you can meet them before school starts." She motions to the shopping mall now directly in front of us. I let out a groan.

"No complaining!" Zelda glares at me seriously for a second as we're getting out of the convertible, but then offers a smile. "It's alright, we'll have in fun here, I promise."

* * *

We entered the building and I followed Zelda into a general sitting area, but before we could even sit down she spotted her friends out of the corner of her eye and waved to them over-enthusiastically. I just shuffled behind her awkwardly. One of them was kind of short and had curly green hair. The other was borderline-goth, but she looked pretty nice. No guys, obviously. Oh well.

"Zelda!" Her two friends said in unison. She ran up to them.

"Hi Saria!" Zelda hugged the one with green hair, pretty much lifting her off her feet. "And Midna!" She embraced her other friend. Saria…and Midna. Alright.

Zelda then motioned towards me. "And here's the Link I told you about earlier."

"Hi."

"Hey, Link." They greet me in unison.

A blush started growing on Midna's face, and Saria hid a small giggle. Oh, wonderful. Midna whispered something into Zelda's ear, and she responded with a look that could easily kill.

"Alright guys, where to first?" Midna speaks up.

"Uh, how about that Hyrule Haute?" Saria points a couple stores away from our current area. So this is how the mall portion of my day is going to be. To my surprise, Saria walks up and pats me on the back. "It's alright Link, if you give me a piggy-back ride there I'll give you this." She flashes a gift card to a video game store in front my face. I can't help but laugh, and pick up this girl I haven't even said a sentence to and run towards the store with her on my back. As we pass Zelda and Midna I can see her flipping the two of them the bird playfully. Saria seems fun.

"Sweet, thanks!" She says and hops off me, and we hi-five as I take the gift card from her. The girls enter the store and I opt to stay out.

* * *

"Link, hey Link wake up!" Zelda's voice. Am I sleeping? Where am I? Is this…oh, that's embarrassing. I must've dozed off on the couch outside the store. I wonder how many people snapped pictures of me. I look up at the girl calling my name. What does Zelda want?

"Does this look good on me?"

I rub my eyes. "Whu…oh!" Zelda was garbed in a dress that went a little below her knees, and complimented the shape of her body perfectly. It was a light blue, and to me looked stunning. But of course I wouldn't say that. Peering out of the shop windows I saw Saria and Midna glaring at me. "You look b- awesome Zelda! Really, it's a great dress." She just laughed.

"Thanks Link!" She playfully curtsied and walked back inside to buy it, I assume. In the window Midna and Saria were both giving me a death stare, and Midna mouthed 'awesome?!' and made the 'what the hell' gesture with her hands. What did they want me to say? Or. Wait. Wait? What? No way.

* * *

2 hour later-

I was exhausted. I know the whole stereotype about girls and shopping isn't exactly the most polite, but it seemed pretty true today. How many pairs of boots did the three of them buy exactly? Five? Ten? Fifty?

Right now we're sitting in front of a pretzel store, Zelda and Saria seem very interested in their conversation. Midna catches me stuffing a pretzel down my face. I raise my hands in defense. "Mrrglpphhhhrlg."

"What? What was that Link?" Midna leaned in.

"MRRGLPHHH!" I…say (?) exasperatedly.

"Good to know." She laughs lightly, and then leans in to say something serious. At that moment however, Zelda speaks up, and Midna gave up on whatever she was going to say. I finally swallow my pretzel, rather audibly.

"Alright you guys, so you two only have about fifteen minutes left before Shiek and Mido get here, any special requests for stores?" Zelda asks.

"Victoria's Secre-

"No, shut up Midna. Anything else?"

"Hot Topic?" She offers her second choice.

"We've already been in there three times though…." Zelda lets out a deep sigh, and Midna just shrugs.

Zelda turns to Saria, who looks too guilty to say anything. The amount of shopping bags behind her solidifies her expression.

"That looks fun…" I gestured back over my shoulder, there's this bungee jumping type attraction where they put you in a harness and you build up momentum on a trampoline. The others silently agree and we walk towards it. The four of us wait in line for five minutes, and then the cashier asks for five dollars each.

"Anyone dropping out?" I ask.

"Nah." The girls all say in unison. I hand the man twenty dollars, seeing as I hadn't paid for any of the clothes or games I bought. You can thank the Harkinians for that. There's four spots on the machine, and we fill them all up. The workers get our harnesses on and then we start jumping.

We start off slow, but in no time the four of us are flying thirty feet in the air.

"Aaaaaah!" Somebody screams. I look to my left and Zelda and Saria seem to be having a backflip competition. Alright, I don't know if I have any gymnast skills but may as well give it a shot. When I'm nearing my maximum height I flip my legs up above my head. Wait, am I actually doing it and what and never mind and oh shi- oof. My face violently contacts with the rough surface of the trampoline. No one noticed, right? Zelda and Saria still seem to be flawlessly doing what I couldn't, and oh, never mind. Midna's pointing at me and laughing her ass off. Defeated, I just laugh along. After that, my graceful jumping just seemed to lose its spark.

Ouch, my face really does hurt. Zelda and Saria still don't really seem to notice, good. Midna dropped down to the same level as me and mouthed 'are you okay?' I mouthed back 'yeah.' She made a gesture that read 'if you say so….'

"Alright folks, I'm going to start lowering you down now." The operator calls up to us. When we're free, Midna just winks and walks by me, slipping something under her sleeve discreetly. A tissue. I wipe my face with it, and right above my nose there appears to be a sizeable amount of blood. Great.

After getting our bearings together we walk over to the door to say our goodbyes. I notice Zelda handing Saria a five-dollar bill. Guess I know who won the flipping competition….

"Alright, goodbye you two, have fun with your dates." They both take their turns to hug Zelda.

"And you too, Link." Saria hi-fives me, and Midna comes in for a pound hug. "I'll remember to tell Sheik about you, Link." Whoever that is.

"See you guys in school tomorrow!" Saria yells as she and Midna walk away. That was more fun than I had initially made it out to be.

* * *

"Aw, dammit Link!" Zelda lowers her shoulders in heavy disappointment. While we were in the mall, it must've rained quite a lot. The interior of her car was soaked.

"Oh…" I had no idea what to say. Zelda walked closer to the car, and although I didn't acknowledge her cursing, I heard it loud and clear.

"Ugh, I'm sorry Link. I should've checked the weather. I'm such an idiot." She seemed really annoyed at herself to say the least.

"No, really Zelda, I don't mind. It's just a wet seat, there's no reason to feel bad. Anyway, we can't really go back right now." We'd have to sit in the car anyway, and I'd prefer to explore the city like our original plan. She managed a weak smile.

"Alright Link, if you say so." Before she got in, I slipped my sweater on to her seat without her noticing. I didn't want a wet seat to... _dampen_ her mood. Ok, I won't. I'm sorry.

Really.

She sits down without noticing my sweater initially, but then she looks from below her to me and her face broke out in a sad yet grateful smile. Her look seemed to say 'are you sure?' and I just nodded my head with my eye brows furrowed in that 'yeah, of course' kind of look.

"Thank you, Link." She smiles for a second and then goes in for a quick but warm, passionate hug. "Thank you…" she whispers. We end the embrace, and I feel kind of fuzzy inside. Comforted. Just how I swore I wouldn't feel yesterday. I let out an internal sigh; it's all so complicated.

"So, where do you want to go?" She asks me, squinting in the bright sun.

"Err, I have no idea really. I thought you would know."

"No, sorry, I never r-

I notice a large billboard. "Wait, Zelda take a left on this exit."

"Ok?"

The sign read Goron Hot Springs. I'd been there once as a child and I have some fun memories.

"And another right here." The car swerves around the corner and Zelda looks at me curiously.

"Alright, take the left up ahead and we're there."

"Goron Hot Springs?" She asks.

"Mhm."

"Is it...just hot springs?" Asking the obvious.

"Uh…I think you just swim there and stuff, I went there when I was like ten. I know we don't have bathing suits or anything, but just to check it out."

"Ok, we have time to waste before the carnival anyway. Let's go!" We hop out of the car, and Zelda makes sure to put the roof up this time just in case. The two of us walk up the hill to the old looking wooden admission building.

The sign hanging on the door has a very clear message "Damn, sorry it's closed, Zelda…" I begin to turn around back toward the car.

"No, wait, Link c'mon!" She forcefully grabbed me by the arm and began to run to the springs.

"What are you doing!?" Even if I my planted feet on the ground as firmly as humanly possible I have a feeling Zelda would still be dragging me as fast as she was now.

"Duck!" We slip under the car gate dangerously and continue running. We're almost at the springs now. Why am I letting this happen?

"Zelda, stop!" In the knick of time she looks back at me. We're at the very edge of the water, and I'm grateful for not getting soaked head to toe. She looks from the water, up to me, and back again.

"What the h-." Maybe I spoke too soon. Instead of not jumping in like any sane person, Zelda did a front flip into the hot springs and took me with her. And ouch, it was hot. Searing hot.

"Zelda…" I manage. "It's called...a _hot_ spring...for a reason."

She looks equally defeated. "Yeah...I forgot...?" I rolled my eyes, and we made our way hastily to an indentation in the rocks on the other end of the pool. Large enough for the both of us to sit in while dangling our feet. Like Zelda said before, we had time to spare so might as well stay here. I have no idea what we're going to do with our soaking clothes, so I just leave that solution to her. Hopefully nobody decides to open this place up right now either. I'll let Zelda deal with that too, if it comes up. For now we just sit in relative peace, cramped in a small overheated ledge. I'm scared to admit it, but I think I might be falling for this girl.

"Hey Link, what's that cut in the middle of your forehead?"

* * *

Told you, utterly useless chapter. The next one should be out in around a week, I want to maintain a rough schedule. And folks, remember. Every review you submit, you get a COOKIE. Who doesn't love cookies!? EDIT: It has come to my attention that not everybody loves cookies *gasp!* feel free to take any of the other snacks on the table!


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